Grolar, the hybrid species between polar bear and grizzly rising due to climate change

Climate change has brought very serious consequences throughout the planet, hundreds of species have had to migrate to different habitats due to the devastation of their ecosystems. Polar bears have been perhaps the most affected by the situation of melting glaciers and have had to move to other regions. Thus, in the convergence between polar bear and grizzly bear, a new species called grolar arose, which is a hybrid between these two.

The melting of the polar ice caps is undoubtedly one of the most urgent climate emergencies that the planet is going through. Just a few days ago, the world’s largest glacier, the A-68 that broke off the Larsen-C platform in 2017, on the Antarctic Peninsula, was declared extinct. But this emergency is not only limited to the South Pole, the Arctic is also experiencing a melting of its ice bodies.

The most immediate consequence is that the endemic species of the poles move to other regions in search of food. The polar bear, as a consequence of the lack of habitat, has migrated towards the northern tundras, where it has converged with the grizzly bear, the result is that a new one, called grolar, has emerged from the crossing of both species.

Grolars Expansion

As the polar bear penetrates into more southern regions, it has new interactions with the grizzly bear, as a consequence the offspring between the two, that is, the grolar, is expanding more and more.

Investigators have closely followed this case. He had previously warned of a possible vulnerability of grolars in their new habitat, as hybrids are generally known to be no better suited to their environments than their parents. But grolars seem to be an exception, the characteristics of both bear species seem to give them an advantage over other species. Experts say that this hybrid bear species is probably more resistant to temperature changes in the environment.

Larisa DeSantis, who is a paleontologist and professor of biological sciences at the University of Tennessee, explains that the grolars are here to stay. Their skulls are more elongated than that of their parents, allowing them to prey more easily in the sea. Although they also have a disadvantage and that is that their molars are too small compared to those of browns. What conditions them to eat only fat, unlike browns that are also omnivorous.

Strangely, the two species of polar bear and grizzly, which have resulted in the grolar, used to form a single one. However, they separated approximately half a million years ago also as a consequence of climate changes. This has made it possible for them to have DNA similarities that now, thousands of years later, unite them again in a new hybrid species.

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